1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to protective gowns to be worn in a medical environment such as a hospital, and more particularly to a disposable gown formed of a single blank of non-woven sheeting and adapted to slip over the head of the wearer, no ties or fasteners being required to secure the gown to the wearer.
2. State of Art
In a medical environment such as an operating room or an examination facility, it is common practice for doctors, nurses and other members of the medical staff to wear a protective gown. Most reusable gowns are made from woven natural or synthetic textiles and must be laundered and resterilized after each wearing. Also now available are medical gowns made of non-woven, low-cost fabrics which are discarded after a single use.
But whether the conventional gown is of the woven or non-woven type, its tailoring is generally such as to provide an unbroken front panel and a pair of rear panels. To put on the gown, the wearer, while facing the front panel, inserts his arms through the sleeves and then manipulates ties or other closures to join the rear panels together. The unbroken front panel of the gown affords a germ barrier in the critical area facing the patient.
Thus in the disposable medical gown illustrated in the Benevento et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,499, the gown, which is made from a single blank of non-woven material, includes Velcro fasteners to close the neck flap and to join the back panels together. Should these fasteners not be used, the gown would not remain on the wearer, particularly if he is active. In other commercially-available medical gowns, the closures take the form of ties which require knotting.
The need of protection in a medical environment is by no means limited to staff personnel, for visitors to a medical facility may also require protection. Thus, there is danger of cross-contamination between a patient lying on a hospital bed and a visitor standing close to the bed.
A visitor to a hospital maternity ward is often required to don a protective gown similar to those used by the medical staff. While an adult may not experience much difficulty in putting on a medical gown and in manipulating the rear ties to secure the gown in place, a child required to don a smaller version of this gown may not find it so easy.
Thus, a child visiting a parent or relative who is a patient in a hospital would find it difficult to put on a conventional protective gown; first, because the sleeves are entered into from the front rather than from the rear as in an ordinary garment, and second, because the ties or other closure means are at the rear, not at the front, and cannot be seen as they are being knotted or manipulated. And if the protective gown on the child is not properly closed, it is likely in the case of an active child to fall off the shoulders.
Also of background interest is applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,302 dealing with a medical examination gown provided with Velcro closures.